


Gateway

by TheEyeofTheOncomingStorm



Series: Primeval: Schism [1]
Category: Primeval, Primeval: New World
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29810799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEyeofTheOncomingStorm/pseuds/TheEyeofTheOncomingStorm
Summary: Gateways are starting to appear. Doorways to worlds we can't possibly imagine, connecting our present to Earth's past and future. And leading to dangerous encounters between creatures that should never have happened.
Series: Primeval: Schism [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191326
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, y'all. This is a rewrite of "The More Things Change". A much better version in my opinion, as this one actually stands a chance of being finished.
> 
> Ooh, ooh! Also, there's an accompanying playlist on spotify, if you're interested. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7de1F1BrBhrUqlpWlNAB1B?si=sYNdk-WeRyyeLJ6lKhmZfg

Afternoon sunlight filtered through the verdant canopy of the forest of Dean. The first thing one might notice upon arriving was the less than pleasant sound of humans camping and generally making use of the resources that the park provided. 

But the sound of motors, chatter, dogs, and the general business of human life slowly faded away the deeper one traveled into the actual forest. Here, the sounds of the soft notes of a busy old forest could be heard. A variety of birds warbled and chattered, a light wind blew through leaves and branches of oak and evergreen trees. 

A boy of about eleven strolled through the trees, as comfortable here as he would be on a city street. He had lived near the forest of Dean for most of his life. It _was_ practically his back yard. He was more often found out in the forest, only partly due to the fact that he liked being in the forest better than anywhere else. But also, it was to keep his mother from telling him off for watching too much television. 

This day however, his peaceful walk was disturbed, as something dashed across his path. Something that was small, and mostly green. And as it did, it made the most curious chirping noise, almost lite that of like a bird. Almost. But not quite.

Ben quickly realized that the green creature that had dashed across his path was no kind of bird. He slowly brought himself down to eye level with the small animal hiding under the brush, though it was still several feet away. The creature shuffled back slightly, and the boy was able to get a better look at it.

"Hello, there." Ben called softly. "What kind of animal are you?"

The lizard, or at least what _looked_ like a lizard, chirruped softly in reply, and Ben made no attempt to move. He watched the lizard in front of him, as the creature sized him up. The creature trotted forward a few paces tentatively. Excited though he was, Ben forced himself to keep still, so he wouldn't scare off the little lizard. 

He laid there for the better part of an hour, softly encouraging the small creature to come closer. Until finally the lizard, who Ben had begun to call Rex, was comfortable enough with him to crawl onto his back. Ben slowly pushed himself into a crouch, and Rex climbed up to perch on the boy’s shoulders, where he discovered the hood of his jacket. After a moment or two of investigation, Rex began trying to pull it over himself.

“Are you cold?” Ben asked quietly, and reached to pick him up. Rex became alarmed for a moment, and squawked in his ear unexpectedly. Ben cringed at the sound, but hurried to reassure him. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you! I just thought you’d be warmer if I held you.”

Ben opened up his jacket to demonstrate, and Rex seemed to get the message. He jumped into the opened jacket, snuggled up inside the fleece-lining, then chirped gratefully. Not wanting to risk spooking the lizard, Ben started walking back home very carefully. Every so often, Ben would peek inside his jacket to look at the dozing form of this strange new pet.

As the boy walked off bound for home, he was unaware that something else was watching him from a distance.

Something far more dangerous than Rex.


	2. Chapter 2

Over three hours away, in a university lab in Liverpool, a young man sat waiting at a desk. Light streamed through the window at the far end of the small university lab, it’s path highlighted by dust motes in the air. He fidgeted about with the paper and specimens that littered his desk, in a manner that a casual observer might actually mistake for work. He glanced up at the clock again. Half nine. _Not long now_.

He tried to refocus on the task he was meant to be doing, but his attention eventually drifted to the rest of the room. From the spiraling fossil of an ammonite on the shelf across from him, to the various accolades and doctorates on the wall that his professor, Nick Cutter and his wife Helen had earned over their joint careers. Then his gaze shifted to the currently absent professor’s desk. Various papers and books were stacked on top, a forgotten coffee balanced on top of a volume of geology borrowed from the university library.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when the girl he was waiting for had arrived. She set her bag down on the chair in front of Cutter's desk, and glanced over at Connor. She smiled to herself, and watched him for a moment, studying the expressions that crossed his face. She found the faces he was making as he thought amusing. Finally, though, she spoke up and jarred him from his musings.

"Don't let your mind wander too far, you might not find it again."

He jumped, quickly turning to her. "What, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I wasn't exactly sneaking, you know." She looked at the state of his desk, and frowned. "Were you working on anything at all actually? Your desk looks like a museum threw up on it."

Connor shoved somethings on his desk aside and focused on her. "Nevermind that. Did you read my dissertation? What did you think?"

She moved the stack of papers off a chair next to Connor's desk and sat down. She sighed. "Do you want me to be honest, or nice?"

"Both, please."

She paused. “I loved it.” 

Connor grinned at her.

“The professor is going to hate it, however. Again.”

He slouched a little, disappointed. She tried to gently explain her reasoning. “Connor, your paper — sorry, your _second_ paper because your first dissertation was _also_ rejected by Cutter — is about a fictional bacteria that was brought to earth by aliens that lead to our evolution.”

"So?"

Madge shrugged. “Not only is there zero proof to substantiate that claim, it’s been done before. Loads of times.”

“In _fiction_.” He retorted sulkily. “This is a scientific paper. Loads of ideas in science fiction sometimes end up being true.”

She let out a long sigh, as if trying to recollect her patience. “Look, you’ve got tons of ideas for papers, and some of them have _actual_ scientific backing. Work on one of those.”

“But I worked hard on _that_ one.”

“I know. If you’d just run the idea by me three months ago, _like I asked_ , I would have told you that Cutter wouldn’t like it.”

Connor crossed his arms in a pout. “I didn’t want to spoil it.”

“It’s a dissertation, not the end of the latest Game of Thrones.” Madge took something from her purse, and handed it to him. “Here, this might cheer you up. One of your tabloids about aliens and things.”

He took it glumly, slinking further down in his chair to read it. “It’s a start I suppose. Thanks Madge.”

“Don’t let Cutter catch you with it, though.” She reminded him. “You know how he hates them.”

Connor vaguely acknowledged her with a brief nod. Madge simply rolled her eyes at him and took out a regular newspaper for Professor Cutter, setting it on his desk before getting on with her own work. After a while, Connor seemed to get bored of his tabloid and rose to get one of the newspaper off Cutter’s desk. Madge glanced up at him from where she was writing. “Anything interesting in there?”

“There’s a sale on chicken.”

“Fascinating.” She said flatly. “Anything else?”

When he didn’t answer this time, she looked up at him. He was avidly reading one article in particular, with an interest that was almost obsessive. 

“Connor? What is it?” Still not getting an answer, sighed and stood, walking around the desk to see the headline for herself, and read it aloud. “'Monster Hoax or Truly Beastly'? Are they serious? That's an awful headline.”

“I sincerely hope they are.” Connor replied excitedly, and handed her the paper. “Serious, I mean. Go on, read for yourself. Go on!”

She took it from him and scanned the article quickly, then shook her head. “I don’t understand, what’s so important about this? It’s just another myth.”

“It's the- It’s not _just_ another myth.” He insisted. “It’s the beast of Dean. It’s _got_ to be.”

“Just. Another. Myth.” She said emphatically, and handed the paper back. “Trust me, I want to believe as much as the next person. I love a good myth. But there _is_ no beast. People have been searching for years, and all anyone has is a blurry photo of something vaguely grey or… brown. It either was there and it’s died, or it never was and people’s imaginations went wild.”

“I’m telling you, this is it.” He was pulling out his mobile phone and began dialling. “And I know someone who’s going to want to hear this.”

“Who? Tom and Duncan?”

“No. Stephen.”

"Stephen? Your new roommate Stephen? Why on earth would he care about this? I thought he was cool."

"He's Stephen Hart." Connor said, as if that explained everything.

"Stephen Hart?" A flicker of recognition came over her face. "Wait, not... not _that_ Stephen Hart? From the Beast Blog?"

Connor, however, was too busy leaving a message for his friend to anwser her. “Damn, voicemail. Listen, mate, have you seen the paper today? Stupid question, I'm leaving a message, you can't answer. It’s back. The beast of Dean is back. I thought you of all people would want to know.”

Madge grabbed hold of Connor's arm tightly excitedly. “Are you for real? You _know_ Stephen Hart?"

He tried to shush her.. “We’re going, just as soon as I find the professor. I haven’t actually told him yet, but something tells me that he’s going to be interested too.” Connor hung up, grabbed his computer bag, and headed for the door. Madge followed, still shouting.

“You _know_ the Beast of Dean guy?!”


	3. Chapter 3

The “Beast of Dean guy”, as Madge had put it, was waiting nervously in the office of zoo manager Tim Parker, and felt completely ridiculous about it. This was not the first job he’d ever had, and far from the most dangerous. But it _was_ the first normal one he'd had for a while. Complete with a regular paycheck, and almost no opportunities for travel. It had been a long time since Stephen had felt settled, and he supposed that feeling of putting down roots was going to take some getting used to.

It was a bit ironic, he thought, that the first place that accepted his application was at a zoo, not twenty minutes from the forest of Dean. Everything that had happened, all the time travelled the globe, and he still wound up back there for one reason or another. It was as if he couldn’t escape the place.

A portly man in his early forties entered the office hurriedly, carrying a stack of various papers, files, and clipboards that looked as if he were to drop them any moment. Stephen rose and out of habit extended a hand to shake, regretting the gesture immediately. Tim shuffled the papers awkwardly from one arm to the other, causing the stack to drop another few inches. Stephen had to stop himself from wincing in anticipation of the inevitable collapse.

“Stephen Hart, good. Nice to meet you again.” The man said, finally shaking his hand. “Sorry about the wait.”

“That’s alright, gave me a chance to fill out the paperwork.” Stephen nodded to the desk. “Awful lot of it, isn’t there?”

Tim nodded sympathetically, rubbing his ear lobe with his free hand. “One thing I never thought about before I started this job was exactly how much paperwork there would be.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised. Having come up against some of these creatures in the wild, I can only imagine the legalities of keeping them in zoos. It must be a bloody nightmare.”

“Eh, quite.” Tim frowned briefly, then continued. "Anyways, as I explained before, we've been reorganising our employee roster, so we can’t give you a set schedule just yet. Trying to keep on all the specialists and other staff as general keepers, but some have gotten better offers elsewhere and, well, I can't blame them for accepting. Greener pastures, all that. Just as well, we needed some fresh blood around here."

"I’ll be one of these general keepers?”

"Yes, to start off." Tim nodded. "There'll be some training involved, but at first we'll probably just have you helping the other keepers with maintenance work. Mucking out stalls, things like that. That alright?"

"Of course."

"Excellent. Uh, I noticed you have a...” Tim paused to find the right word. “Well, a very unique, if somewhat incomplete resume. You seem like a very well travelled young man. May I ask... what _exactly_ have you been doing the last seven years?"

"Field research, for a grad project." Stephen explained simply. Not quite the truth, but it didn’t matter. It was close enough. "But the grant money fell through, the project went nowhere, so I ended up dropping it. Didn't want to go back to university, so here I am."

“Grad project?” Tim asked, keenly interested. “What was the subject? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Living fossils.” Again, not quite the truth, but close enough. “Coelacanths, tuatara, the like.”

Tim raised his eyebrows, and shook his head as if dismissing the rest of his questions. "Well, anyway, we're glad to have you. Welcome aboard."

"I appreciate it."

“Well, let’s show you around and- Oh hold on.” Tim stepped off a few paces to answer his phone. 

Stephen waited patiently while he handled it. A blonde girl, another zookeeper, walked by carrying a bucket. He nodded and smiled at her, but she carried on as if he weren’t there. He frowned, but dismissed it.

Tim hung up and apologised profusely. “It’s a very busy place here at the moment.”

The girl finally spoke. “When isn’t it busy here, Tim?” 

"Ah, good. Stephen, this is Abby. She was the specialist in charge of the reptile house. She's been assigned to the bug house for now." Tim introduced them. "Abby, this is Stephen. "

"Brilliant." She said flatly.

“Nice to meet you, Abby.” Stephen extended his hand to shake, but she let it hang there for a moment before reluctantly shaking it. Several awkward seconds passed before Tim’s phone rang yet again. 

"Excuse me, I have to get this. Can you show him around, Abby?"

"Sure. Love to." She said sarcastically. 

The sentiment was lost on the man however. “Very good. Excuse me. Hello, Tim Parker.”

Abby sighed to herself as she watched the disappearing figure of her boss. Then she turned to Stephen.

“I guess I'll show you around." Abby said resignedly. “This way.”

He followed her and they walked along for a while in silence. Until finally, Stephen couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’m sorry, did I do something to upset you?” 

“No, you didn’t.” Abby said.

“Then why are you treating me like I did?” 

“I’m not!”

“You are too.” Stephen said. “So either I must have done something wrong at some point since I met you or you really don’t like me.”

“I like you fine. It’s nothing to do with you, honest. Just a bad day, that’s all." Abby stopped walking, and so did he. She turned to him sheepishly. “I’m still not making a very good first impression, am I?”

“It could have gone better.”

"I'm sorry, it really isn't you." She tried to assure him.

“How about we start over?" He extended his hand again for her to shake."I’m Stephen Hart, your new colleague.”

This time she accepted it with a small smile. “Abby Maitland, formerly of the Reptile House.” 

“Nice to meet you, Abby.” Stephen said. “Now, where’s the first stop on our tour?”

“Locker room.” She nodded in it’s direction. “That way.”

She led him through, narrating the layout as they went. “Showers through the back, past the bathroom. There’s curtains if you’re shy. Lockers are out here, I think number eight’s free if you need it. You have to bring your own lock though, and leave a spare key with Tim. The desks are shared but not everyone’s in here at the same time so it’s not really a problem. Give me a tick to finish up here, and I’ll show you around the grounds.”

Stephen was nothing if not observant. Feeding charts and vets reports covered the desks. A television sat on one desk in the far corner, running a news program on mute. A few scattered personal effects that belonged to the keepers. A small window looked out on an unremarkable section of lawn on the zoo grounds. A locker door creaked as Abby opened it, and Stephen instinctually turned to look. Which was when he spotted a file, like one of those that Tim Parker had had, sporting several pictures, of quite an unusual creature. A creature from history. 

Prehistory, to be exact.

He went over to get a closer look, his curiosity compelling him to pick up the pictures to examine them closer. "Now _that's_ unusual."

“Hm? Oh, that's Rex.” She informed him. “A kid found him in the forest of Dean, thought he was a draco volans."

He scoffed. "That's no flying lizard _I've_ seen."

"No, that's the first thing I noticed too." Abby agreed, her enthusiasm rising. "But I have no _clue_ where he came from. I've been back to that forest half a dozen times. He can't have come from there, it's too cold. But no one's missing him. Not private owners, not any pet shops, it's like he came from nowhere."

"If he was illegally captured, and then he escaped, his owner likely wouldn't be making too much noise." Stephen reasoned logically. Though in truth, he had other theories.

Abby hummed in agreement. "The thought had occurred to me. We may never know where he's really from."

"I'd like to see him someday." Stephen said, trying to sound casual. "Sounds like a very special lizard."

She grinned mischievously. "Oh you have _no_ idea."

He looked at the picture again as she moved over to one of the desks. He cocked his head to the side, smiling secretively. _Oh, I have an inkling_ , he thought, and replaced the picture in her locker.

As they walked outside, Stephen’s phone beeped, indicating he had a message. He checked it. “Missed call? When did that happen?”

“Sorry, Tim should have warned ya.” Abby said. “Terrible reception inside the building. If you ever need to talk to Tim, though, get him cornered in there and his phone usually won’t ring. I had conversation with him once that lasted a whole five minutes.”’

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Stephen checked to see whose call he missed. It was Connor. “Sorry, I’ve got to check this. Do you mind? New roommate. Could be important.”

“By all means.” Abby said. “I’ll meet you over there by the shed, alright?”

He nodded, and listened to the message. Abby went on ahead, and turned back to check on him. She saw his entire mood shift. Concerned, she quickly retraced her steps to join him. “What is it? What’s happened?”

Stephen looked at the phone, and thought quickly. He might regret this later but… 

“Family emergency.” He lied. “I have to go.”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He simply left, leaving the blonde zookeeper confused and concerned.


End file.
